Distributed storage and aggregation of multimedia information via a broadband access gateway

ABSTRACT

A system and method for the aggregation of multimedia information storage via a broadband access gateway is disclosed. Information about storage resources accessible to a broadband access gateway may be collected and used in selecting storage capacity used for storing multimedia information such as, for example, streaming video, broadcast video, digitized video, digitized audio, text, and digitized images. The gateway may manage storage and retrieval of the multimedia information based upon user defined criteria and characteristics of the available storage resources. Multimedia information may be parsed for storage across multiple storage resources, and the location and nature of the storage resources used for storage of multimedia information items may be unknown to the user. Storage services accessible via a broadband connection may also be used as storage resources.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 12/181,196,entitled “Distributed Storage and Aggregation of Multimedia InformationVia a Broadband Access Gateway,” filed Jul. 28, 2012 and issued as U.S.Pat. No. 8,204,522 on Jun. 19, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/095,638, entitled “Distributed Storageand Aggregation of Multimedia Information Via a Broadband AccessGateway,” filed Mar. 30, 2005, and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,420,956 onSep. 2, 2008, which, in turn, makes reference to, claims priority to,and claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.60/563,894, entitled “Method And System For Handling And BackhaulingTraffic From A Wired And/Or Wireless WAN, LAN, and/or PAN Using ABroadband Access Gateway,” filed Apr. 16, 2004, all of which areincorporated herein by this reference, in their entireties.

The present application makes reference to U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/021,294, entitled “Method And System For Extended Network AccessServices Advertising Via A Broadband Access Gateway,” filed Dec. 23,2004 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,009,608 on Aug. 30, 2011, thecomplete subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference, inits entirety.

The present application also makes reference to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/039,020, entitled “Method And System For ProvidingRegistration, Authentication, And Access Via A Broadband AccessGateway,” filed Jan. 18, 2005, pending, the complete subject matter ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety.

The present application also makes reference to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/095,842, entitled “Registering Access Device MultimediaInformation Via a Broadband Access Gateway” filed Mar. 30, 2005 andissued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,522,549 on Apr. 21, 2009, the complete subjectmatter of which is incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

One major common problem faced by cellular and landline serviceproviders is market competition. In today's climate of competitivemarkets, cellular service providers have found that one way for them togrow market share and defend their businesses is to be proactive andform alliances, and to partner with landline service providers. Inaddition, cellular service providers seek to differentiate their serviceofferings, and to capture the largest portion of market revenue bymeeting an ever increasing demand for access to a wide range of mediaforms such as MP3 encoded audio, still and video imaging, data, instantmessaging, and email. In a similar manner, the landline serviceproviders have found that to grow market share and ward off competition,they too must be proactive and form alliances, and to partner withcellular service providers. Support for broad economical access to theseconverging forms of communication is needed to enable unfettered marketgrowth, and to support the development and use of new handheld devicesneeded to provide increasing levels of mobile multimedia communicationfunctionality.

Although the formation of alliances and partnerships between cellularservice providers and landline service providers may help to ward offcompetition, such alliances and partnerships are faced with otherproblems. For example, the erection of cellular infrastructure such ascellular towers may be an expensive venture since this may requireacquisition of real estate, whether in the form of outright purchases orthrough leasing. Cellular infrastructure also requires the establishmentof one or more expensive backbone links to handle core network traffic.Another cellular-related problem is that the cellular signals do notpenetrate and propagate in buildings such as homes and offices verywell. This is especially true with the frequencies that are typicallyutilized in the United States, which may vary between 800 MHz and 1900MHz or 1.9 GHz.

The use of digital media is growing at an extremely rapid pace. Mostconsumers today have a variety of intelligent devices that gather,store, process, generate, communicate, play back, and/or displayinformation electronically, in a digital form. Examples of such devicesinclude digital still and video cameras, personal digital assistants(PDAs), laptop and desktop personal computer (PC) systems, videocassette recorders (VCRs), personal video recorders (PVRs), document andphoto scanners, digital and high definition television sets, stereoaudio equipment, and cellular phones, to name only a few. Findingstorage for the large amounts of data that may be produced by suchdevices is a constant issue. Those receiving email on portable deviceshaving limited internal memory may wish to archive copies for laterreference. Users of digital cameras find their memory cards filled andneed to unload them, in order to be able to continue taking photographs.Collectors of digital versions of music and movies require large amountsof storage for their collections. Owners of digital video cameras mayfind themselves searching for storage to enable them to upload videoclips to be sent to relatives, friends, and colleagues.

Once suitable storage is found, a new problem arises. The user mustmaintain records of the location of each of the items of storedmultimedia information, to enable them to later retrieve the material.The user may desire to locate a particular piece of email, a specificvideo clip, or a certain song. Present day tools fail to provide thefunctionality to easily identify and retrieve diverse pieces ofmultimedia information spread over a variety of storage devices.

Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditionalapproaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, throughcomparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention asset forth in the remainder of the present application with reference tothe drawings.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and method supporting distribution and aggregation ofmultimedia information via a broadband access gateway, substantially asshown in and/or described in connection with at least one of thefigures, as set forth more completely in the claims. These and otheradvantages, aspects, and novel features of the present invention, aswell as details of illustrated embodiments, thereof, will be more fullyunderstood from the following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an architecture of an exemplarycommunications system in which a representative embodiment of thepresent invention may be practiced.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary communicationsystem, in accordance with a representative embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of an exemplary communication systemsupporting aggregation of multimedia information storage that maycorrespond, for example, to a portion of the communication system ofFIG. 2, in accordance with a representative embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3A shows an exemplary communication system comprising storageservices that may be employed as a storage resource by a broadbandaccess gateway, in accordance with a representative embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary storage resource screen for use in specifyingthe particulars of storage resources to be used by a broadband accessgateway such as, for example, the gateway of FIGS. 2, 3, 3A for storingmultimedia information, in accordance with a representative embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary storage selection criteria screen for use inspecifying the desirable characteristics of candidate storage resourcesto be used by a broadband access gateway such as, for example, thegateway of FIGS. 2, 3, 3A in storing multimedia information, inaccordance with a representative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary stored multimedia information screen listing anumber of items of multimedia information stored using the storageaggregation functionality of a broadband access gateway such as, forexample, the gateway of FIGS. 2, 3, 3A in accordance with arepresentative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method supporting aggregationof multimedia information via a broadband access gateway such as, forexample, the gateway of FIGS. 2, 3, 3A, in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present invention relate to the seamless merging of widearea networks, from any kind of wired and/or wireless wide areanetworks, to pockets of wired and/or wireless local area networks andpersonal area networks, which may be located in homes or otherenvironment such as an office or business. More specifically, aspects ofthe present invention relate to the aggregation of multimediainformation storage using a broadband access gateway. Examples ofmultimedia information include streaming video, broadcast video, voice,digital data, text, digitized audio, digitized still images, digitizedvideo, and digitized music. Devices and systems to which embodiments ofthe present invention may be applied include, for example, homeentertainment equipment (e.g., televisions, video cassette recorders(VCRs), personal video recorders (PVRs) (e.g., TiVo), stereo equipment),a mobile multimedia handsets, personal computers, pagers, and personaldigital assistants (PDAs), to name only a few. The aggregation ofmultimedia information storage may be supported by a broadband accessgateway that permits broadband network access via, for example, apersonal cellular microcell, a personal area network (PAN), a wired orwireless wide area network (WAN), wireless local area network (WLAN) orother type of network located within a premise such as, for example, ahome, office, business, or the like. Services that may be available viasuch a broadband gateway connection include, for example, access to thepublic switched telephone network (PSTN); Internet protocol (IP) phoneaccess; extended access to commercial cellular and PCS networks such as,for example, TDMA, CDMA, and GSM; and access to and/or control of avariety of multimedia access devices or networked resources capable ofproviding streams of images, still pictures, video, and audio; to nameonly a few. These same networks may enable a user of a representativeembodiment of the present invention to store and retrieve multimediainformation accessible via any of the listed networks, without detailedknowledge of the actual storage device or its location. The merging ofthese various types of networks may enable transparent communication ofall types of media between access devices and multimedia informationstorage, which may be coupled in a wired or wireless fashion to one ormore of these networks. In an embodiment of the present invention,access to storage services available through a wireless broadbandgateway may be simplified, permitting their use by a wider group ofusers of access devices in, for example, homes, offices, and businesses.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an architecture of an exemplarycommunications system 100 in which a representative embodiment of thepresent invention may be practiced. Referring to FIG. 1, there is showna first location 102, a second location 104, a broadband access provider(BAP) 106, public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, a transportnetwork 110, wireless networks including CDMA network 112 and GSMnetwork 114, and access devices 126 and 128. The first location 102comprises a gateway 118 having a modem 116, a wireless interface(s)block 120, and the access devices 122, 124. The access devices 122, 124,126, 128 may comprise, for example, a mobile multimedia handset having ahigh level of functionality such as, for example, that of one or more ofa digital video or still camera, a portable audio (MP3) player, apersonal digital assistant, and a voice handset. The access devices 122,124, 126, 128 may be capable of operating using, for example, a personalarea network and/or wireless local area network compliant with, forexample, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, and/or IEEE 802.15.3aultra-wideband standards. The second location 104 comprises a router 130having a modem 132, and a plurality of wireless access devices. Theplurality of wireless access devices at the second location 104 maycomprise a personal computer (PC) 138, a laptop 136 and a wirelesspersonal digital assistant (PDA) 134. A peripheral such as a digitalcamera 142 may be coupled to the personal computer 138. Otherperipherals such as printers, digital scanners, speakers, and the like,which are not shown, may also be coupled to the personal computer 138and/or laptop 136. The wireless interface block 120 may comprise aplurality of interfaces such as a Bluetooth interface, an IEEE 802.15.3aultra-wideband interface, and any combination of an IEEE 802.11a, b, gand/or n interface.

FIG. 1 also comprises an “other broadband access provider” block 144, an“other cellular/PCS service provider” block 146, a central control andmanagement block 148, and content provider 150. The “other broadbandaccess provider block 144” may be, for example, a cable, DSL, or othertype of broadband access provider. The central control and managementblock 148 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry and/or code that may beadapted to handle content delivery and security functions such asauthentication, validation, key or certificate management, andauthorization. The central control and management block 148 may also beadapted to handle provisioning and service management. In arepresentative embodiment of the present invention, the central controland management block 148 may establish communications links with, forexample, the gateway 118, the broadband access provider 106, the otherbroadband access provider 144, the other cellular/PCS service provider146, the CDMA network 112, and the GSM network 114 using actual orvirtual connections.

The broadband access provider 106 may be, for example, a cable operator,telephone company, or satellite operator providing Internet access alongwith other communication services. In instances where BAP 106 is atelephone company, broadband service to locations 102, 104 may beprovided via DSL or other broadband access technology. Accordingly, themodems 116, 132 may be DSL modems. In instances where BAP 106 is a cableoperator, broadband service to locations 102, 104 may be provided viacable. Accordingly, the modems 116, 132 may be DOCSIS compliant or othertype of cable modem. Given the rapid decrease in the cost of leasedtelephone lines over the past decade or more, the connection to thelocation 102, 104 may also be T1 or T3 connections. For example, aswitch located at a central office (CO) (not shown) may be utilized tocouple a T1 or T3 connection between the second location 104 and thePSTN 108.

The gateway 118 may comprise an integrated DSL modem, cable modem orother high-speed modem that may be required for handling a connectionsuch as a T1 or T3 connection. Alternatively, the gateway 118 may becoupled to an external DSL modem, cable modem or other high-speed modemthat may be capable of handling connections such as a T1 or a T3connection. The gateway 118 may be adapted so that it has access toprotocol stack information that may be related to the GSM and/or CDMAnetworks 114, 112, respectively. The gateway 118 may also be adapted toprovide protocol support for communication with “other cellular/PCSservice provider” block 146.

Each of the CDMA and GSM networks 112, 114 may comprise a plurality ofcell sites (a/k/a cellular towers) that are located in geographicalcells within each of the networks. Within the GSM network 114, each ofthe cell sites such as, for example, cell site 114 a may comprise a basetransceiver station (BTS), and one or more base transceiver stations(BTSs) may be coupled to wireless carrier central office 114 b. Thewireless carrier central office 114 b may comprise a base stationcontroller/radio network controller (BSC/RNC) such as BSC/RNC 114 d. Oneor more base station controllers/radio network controllers (BSCs/RNCs)may be coupled to the core network 114 e, that comprises a network edgeswitch called a mobile switching center (MSC), such as MSC 114 g, and aserving GPRS support node (SGSN)/packet data serving node (PDSN) 114 f,of the GSM network 114. The mobile switching center may be coupled to,for example, the PSTN 108 via the transport network 110. As an accessdevice moves out of range of a first cell site to within range of asecond cell site, the decrease in signal power received from the firstcell site and the increase in signal power received from the second cellsite causes initiation of handoff of a call from the first cell site tothe second cell site. In cases where there is no second cell site tohand off to, the call may be maintained by the first cell site poweruntil it is attenuated to a threshold where it is no longer feasible tomaintain the call. At the point where the power reaches or falls belowthis threshold, the call may drop and any related call resources may berelinquished. In a home and/or office environment, it may be desirableto have a second network to which the call may be handed off.

As an illustration, a user may be on their way home and as the userapproaches their home, the signal may fall below a minimum signal powerthreshold that is required to maintain a call. However, instead ofdropping the call, the call may be handed off to, for example, a PAN ora wireless local area network (WLAN) that may be located within theuser's home or an unlicensed wireless access system that may be locatedin the user's home. For example, with reference to FIG. 1, as accessdevice 126 migrates from the vicinity of the serving cell site 114 a inGSM network 114 towards the wireless interface 120 in the first location102, the call may be handed off from the cell site 114 a GSM network 114to the wireless interface 120 coupled to the gateway (GW) 118 at thefirst location 102. Accordingly, instead of the call being dropped, thecall has been seamlessly handed off and is now being handled by thegateway 118 via the wireless interface 120. The resulting wireless datamay then be communicated to the GSM network 114 via the broadbandconnection to the BAP 106 which is connected to the broadband wirelesslocal area network controller (BWC) 114 c.

In this illustration, the user is handed off to their PAN, WLAN, orother network located within their home. However, the user could alsohave been handed off to another network system such as a neighbor'snetwork. In any case, a gateway coupled to the wireless interface whichis providing service to the user may communicate at least a portion ofthe data to, for example, the cable or DSL BAP 106, the GSM network 114,CDMA network 112, other broadband access service provider 144, othercellular/PCS service provider 146 and central control and managementblock 148. The user may be provided with a notification that indicatesthe presence of the PAN, WLAN, or other unlicensed network. For example,an icon representative of a personal area network may be displayed onthe screen of the access device 126 once a soft or hard handoff isachieved from a serving cell site in GSM network 114 to the wirelessinterface 120 at the first location 102. A special tone or other audioalert may also be utilized to indicate that the call has switched to thewireless interface 120.

In instances where the gateway 118 detects a compatible access devicethat may be within the range of the wireless interface 120, the gateway118 may immediately advertise its available services to the accessdevice. In this regard, the gateway 118 may be adapted to transmitservice advertisements to the access device in order to alert a user ofthe access device of the types of services that are being offered by thegateway 118. Signals containing icons representative of the services maybe transmitted to and displayed on a screen of the access device and/oraudio alerts may be utilized to notify the user of these services.

In another embodiment of the invention, quality of service (QoS) mayalso be advertised by the gateway 118. For example, when a user is beingserviced by the wireless interface 120, the gateway 118 may advertisethat stereo audio is available.

Access devices may be pre-registered so that when they are within therange of the wireless interface 120, the gateway 118 may automaticallyrecognize them. For the pre-registration, an administrator of thegateway 118 at the first location 102 may register access devices thatare allowed to access the gateway 118 when they are within the range ofthe wireless interface 120. Pre-registration may be done prior to theaccess device accessing the gateway 118. During pre-registration, anadministrator or owner of the gateway 118 may enter registration orconfiguration information such as device IDs of access devices belongingto friends and/or family members into a registration database associatedwith the gateway 118. As a result, these devices will be allowed toaccess at least a portion of the services offered by the gateway 118whenever they attempt to access the gateway 118 by pressing a singlebutton, for example. Opportunistic registration permits a user of anaccess device to register with the gateway 118 automatically with littleor no effort on the part of the user. In this regard, registrationinformation may be sent to the gateway 118 from an access device duringan initial access and the gateway 118 may choose to accept or deny theregistration. The registration information may be automatically ormanually sent to the gateway 118.

In certain instances, an access device may not have been pre-registeredto access the network. In this case, one button access may be provided.A single button such as a hard coded button or software-enabled buttonon an access device may be programmed to transmit identifyinginformation from the access device to the gateway 118. The gateway 118may utilize this transmitted identifying information to grant or denyaccess to its services. For example, one button may be programmed tocontain access device identifying information related to accessing theservices provided by gateway 118 at the first location 102. The gateway118 may also be adapted to utilize digital certificates to authenticateaccess devices.

An interactive process may also be provided, whereby the gateway 118 mayprompt or request particular information, for example a password from anaccess device requiring network access. If the particular information isreceived, then access to at least some of the services provided by thegateway 118 may be granted and if not, the access to at least some ofthe gateway's services may be denied.

In another embodiment of the invention, the one button access may beprovided via software-enabled button (soft button) or hardware-enabledbutton (hard button). In this regard, the software button may bedisplayed on a screen of an access device.

A “walled garden” approach may be utilized to provide access to theservices that may be offered by a particular gateway, for example,gateway 118. Under the walled garden approach, when an access devicefirst registers or is identified, a basic set of services may beprovided by the serving gateway 118 to the access device 124. The basicservices offered may vary among each gateway. At least some of the basicservices that are provided by a gateway such as gateway 118, may beoffered without authenticating the access device 124. However, otherservices may only be offered if an access device such as access device124 is properly authenticated. These services that are offered may beservices that were advertised by the gateway 118.

In an aspect of the invention, access to additional services may begranted based on, for example, user identity, access device identity andor user input. The services offered to an access device by a gateway maybe arranged in a hierarchical structure such as a tier. For example, ina first tier, a user may be prompted to enter membership informationsuch as a member identification number. Upon authentication of themembership identification number, the first tier may provide restrictedaccess with pop-up advertisements that may not be disabled. In a secondtier, for example, a user may be prompted to enter a password. Uponauthentication of the password, second tier information may providerestricted access to gateway services without pop-up advertisements. Ina third tier, for example, entering billing information such as anaccount number or credit card or check card number may provide unlimitedand/or unrestricted access to all the services offered by a gateway. Afourth tier may provide only operating instruction and information forguests.

An administrator of the gateway may establish the type of accessprovided by the walled garden. For example, if the first location 102 isa hotspot at a Cafe, the provider of the gateway may establish theservice access levels or tiers that may be provided by the gateway 118.

When an access device is within the range of the gateway 118, wirelessservice is handed off from a serving cell site 114 a in the GSM network114 to the gateway 118. The access device may be authenticated by thegateway 118 and permitted to access at least some of the servicesoffered by the gateway 118. Once the access device is authenticated, atleast a portion of the information on the access device may be madeavailable as a networked resource via the gateway 118. A user of theaccess device may choose whether information on the access device may bemade available to the gateway and if so, that information which will bemade available, and that information which will be unavailable to thegateway 118. In this regard, where information is made available, thegateway 118 may maintain a list of the resources that may be availableon access devices that may be coupled to the gateway 118. For example, alist of contact information, calendar information, audio files, videofile and/or data files stored on the access device may be sent to thegateway 118.

The resources that are available on the access device may also beadvertised to other access devices that may be in communication with thegateway 118. Advertisement of the resources that may be available on anaccess device may be restricted to, for example, a list of particulardevices, a particular type of devices or to a particular user.Accordingly, a user may have to be properly authenticated prior tocertain information being made available to the user. Additionally,advertisement of the resources may cause certain icons representative ofthe resources to be displayed on other access devices. In a similarmanner, icons representative of the resources that may be available onthese other access devices may also be presented on the access device.

An access device may be provided with a welcoming screen that may allowa user of a device to sign up for either free or paid services. Once thesignup is complete, subsequent access by the user may be authenticatedby the gateway 118 utilizing the signup information. Whenever an accessdevice registers with and/or is authenticated by the gateway 118,information on the access device may be updated and/or synchronized withinformation that may be on the gateway 118.

Devices within the location of the gateway 118 may be configured toregister certain portions of their data content with the gateway 118through a gateway registration process. Once data for these devices isregistered to the gateway 118, the gateway may maintain a database,which keeps track of the data that is available, and its location.Accordingly, if the data previously stored in the database is no longeravailable, then information representative of the previously stored datamay be removed from the database. Data from devices coupled to thegateway 118 such as on laptops, CD players, digital video disk (DVD)players, TIVO®, personal video recorders (PVRs), personal digitalassistants (PDAs) and other devices, may be registered with the gateway118. This data may comprise audio, video, still pictures, and/or text.

At least a portion of the registered data may be made available to othernetwork access devices via the gateway 118. In an aspect of theinvention, the gateway 118 may be adapted to maintain a searchable listof data that may be available via the gateway. In this regard, thegateway may comprise a search engine that may be utilized to locate anddistribute data that may be made available through the gateway 118. Inanother aspect of the invention, data may be made available to accessdevices via advertising by the gateway 118. Access devices may beconfigured to seek out particular data that may be of interest.Accordingly, an access device may be adapted to receive and process onlythose gateway advertisements may fit particular criteria. Thoseadvertisements that may not fit the particular criteria may be discardedor ignored.

When an access device is within the range of the gateway 118, wirelessservice may be handed off from a serving cell site 114 a in the GSMnetwork 114 to the gateway 118. The access device may be authenticatedby the gateway 118 and permitted to access at least some of the servicesoffered by the gateway 118. Once the access device is authenticated, auser of the access device may have a desire to locate a particular videopresentation. The user may access the search engine, which may have beenadvertised to the user's access device by the gateway 118. The searchengine may appear on the display of the user's access device as an icon.The user may then activate a search by selecting the search engine icon,inputting a name of the video presentation and executing the search.

In another embodiment of the invention, the gateway may be adapted toclassify information based on a given criterion. This classification mayassist with locating information based on a particular criterion. Inthis regard, a user of the access device may be presented with a list ofclassifications and may select one, which may be of interest based on aparticular criterion. This may narrow the focus of a search.

The gateway may also be utilized to facilitate seamless synchronizationof data between devices that may be wired or wirelessly coupled to thegateway 118. For example, audio files located in a music folder on a PCcoupled to the gateway 118 may be synchronized with a wireless mediaplayer coupled to a hot spot in an airport while a user of the wirelessaccess media player waits to board a flight. In this regard, the gatewaymay determine what files need to be synchronized and control how thesynchronization is accomplished. The same is true for files that may bedownloaded from the PC to the wireless access media player, and forfiles that may be uploaded from the wireless access media player to thePC. Calendar and/or contact information may also be updated and/orsynchronized with a mobile multimedia handset in a similar mannerutilizing the gateway 118.

A location-aware service determines an approximate location of a networkdevice and adapts delivery of a particular service application and/orcontent according to a quality of service criterion. The delivery oflocation-aware services may be controlled by the gateway 118. Forexample, a user of an access device may request playback of an audioclip via the gateway 118. After receiving the request for playback ofthe audio clip, the gateway 118 may determine that a channel between thegateway 118 and the user's access device may only be capable ofmaintaining a reduced playback rate. As a result, instead of sending 128kbps encoded audio data, then the gateway may send 96 kbps data. Hence,in a case where the audio data was originally stored in 128 kbps sampledaudio data, then the gateway 118 may transcode the 128 kbps sampled datato 96 kbps audio data.

In another illustrative embodiment of the invention, while the GSMnetwork 114 is servicing the access device, lower compression rates maybe utilized to provide service to the access device. However, when theaccess device roams within range of the wireless interface 120 and isbeing served by the gateway 118 through wireless interface 120, highercompression rates may be utilized. For example, audio data sampled at adata rate of 64 kbps may be utilized for playback on an MP3 enabledtelephone while the phone is being serviced by a cell site 114 a in theGSM network 114. However, once the MP3 enabled telephone is within theoperating range of the wireless interface 120 and is being serviced bythe gateway 118, the gateway 118 may automatically adapt to a higherdata rate of, for example, 92 kbps or 128 kbps.

Automatic format conversion by the gateway 118 may include convertingdata from a first format to at least a second format suitable fordelivery and/or display on an access device. This may permit data thatwould otherwise be incompatible with a first access device to be playedon that first access device. For the location-aware services based onQoS, data was converted from a first format 128 kbps to a second format96 kbps to achieve and/or maintain a particular QoS, but the data typeremained the same. In this case, the audio format and/or its data typemay be different. For example, if the audio format was MP3, then afterthe conversion, the format remained WAV and/or the sampling rate mayhave decreased from 128 kbps to 96 kbps.

In conventional wired caller ID systems, a name and/or directory number(DN) of a calling party may be transferred either in-band or out-of-bandto a called party and may be displayed on the called party's caller IDdisplay when a call is answered. In these conventional systems, thecaller ID information is limited to a caller's name, directory number(DN), general location and/or time of call. In wireless telephonesystems, in order to save on bandwidth, only a caller's directory numberis transferred and displayed to a calling party. However, if the callingparty's directory number and name is stored in the called party's phone,then the stored name and stored directory number will be presented on adisplay of the called party's terminal. In this case, the storeddirectory number is compared with the transferred caller's directorynumber, and if a match occurs, then a name corresponding to the matchingdirectory number is also displayed on the called party's terminal.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the gateway 118 isadapted to determine the appropriate caller ID information that may bedisplayed in a called and/or calling party's caller ID. In this case,reverse caller ID information may be displayed on both a calling and acalled party's terminal by the gateway 118.

If a called and/or calling device is a mobile multimedia handset and/orlaptop, for example, contact or other personal information may bedisplayed with the caller's and/or calling party's directory number. Thelevel or amount of information that may be displayed may be varied.Certain sensitive information relating to either the called or callingparty may be restricted from being displayed.

In current cellular communication systems, over the air (OTA)programming is utilized to program a cellular telephone during theprovisioning process. In some instances, cellular providers haveestablished websites that may be utilized or OTA programming. In thisregard, a cellular subscriber may access the website and enterinformation such as the assigned directory number and the electronicserial number of the cellular telephone being programmed.

In accordance with a representative embodiment of the invention, anaccess device may be registered using over the air programming via thegateway 118. A user of an access device may send access deviceinformation to the gateway 118 using, for example, a default interfacethat may be presented to and displayed on a screen of the access devicewhen the access device first enters the service area of the wirelessinterface 120. During registration, the capabilities of an access devicemay be sent to the gateway 118 and may be shared with devices that maybe coupled to the gateway 118.

Since the gateway acts as a registrar of information for all the accessdevices that may be wired or wirelessly coupled to it, the gateway mayfunction as a personal digital assistant for any of these accessdevices. In an illustrative example, a first device, a first PC and asecond PC are being serviced by the gateway 118. The first access devicereceives a call and the caller ID information shows the caller's name,home directory number and home address. However, the first PC containsthe business address for the caller and the second PC contains themonthly calendar information for the caller. Assume that the caller hada desire to set up a business meeting. In accordance with an aspect ofthe invention, the gateway 118 may be adapted to provide the businessaddress of the caller to the first access device and also provide thecaller's calendar to the first access device. In this manner, thenetwork centrally provides all the information necessary for schedulingthe meeting. In this example, the first PC may belong to the user of thefirst access device and the second PC may belong to the caller.

This concept may be extended to a look-up or 411 directory assistance onthe Internet. The lookup may also be location dependent. In this regard,if a user is located in Hollywood and requests a hotel location, thegateway 118 may only cause the hotels that are located in Hollywood tobe displayed to the user.

The gateway 118 may also be adapted to create profile information basedon data usage. These created profiles may be utilized to create socialnetworks for people having common interests. Accordingly, users may bepermitted to post their interests and also select those people havingsimilar interests based on the created profile. Based on the createdprofile information and the posted user interests, the gateway 118 mayalso generate a list of those people who have similar interests and alsothose users that may potentially have similar interests.

Given the capability to seamlessly operate an access device as onemigrates from outside the home into the home, it is desirable to have asingle device that may be adapted to control at least some of thedevices that may be found within the home. In addition to its normalvoice or data communication operating mode, an access device may beconfigured to operate as a universal remote that may be utilized toremotely control a plurality or other devices such as a TV, DVD, CD,Stereo, display monitor, or a combination thereof. Most access devicescurrently have an IR transmitter, which may be adapted to communicatewith other IR receiver devices.

The access device may be used for wireless communication and forremotely controlling an electronic device with as a TV, CD/DVDrecorder/player, or other device. The access device may also include atleast one soft-button that may be enabled through the gateway 118 andmay be utilized to control any other device that may be coupled to thegateway 118.

The gateway 118 is adapted to virtually aggregate data that may bevisible from a plurality of access devices or other network devices.Although the gateway 118 may be adapted to store some service andcontent related information, the gateway 118 does not actually storecopies of data that resides the access devices and/or other networkdevices that may be wired or wirelessly coupled to it. However, thegateway 118 may store, for example, metadata information that may beutilized to locate and access the information stored on the accessdevices and/or other network devices. The gateway is therefore adaptedto function as a registrar of both service and content relatedinformation.

Whenever an access device registers with and/or is authenticated by thegateway 118, information may be collected from the access device andrelated metadata information may be updated and/or synchronized withinformation that may be currently stored on the gateway 118.Additionally, when a device is no longer being serviced by the gateway118, associated information may be released from the gateway 118. Inthis regard, the virtual aggregations function performed by the gateway118 guarantees that the most current information is accessible from theaccess devices.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary communicationsystem 100, in accordance with a representative embodiment of thepresent invention. The communication system 100 shown in FIG. 2comprises a wireless interface 120, a gateway (GW) 118 with a modem 116,and an array of access devices such as, for example, a printer 103, astereo receiver 105, a laptop 117, a wireless personal digital assistant(PDA) 119, and a digital video camera 121, at location 102. Thecommunication system 100 of FIG. 2 also comprises an access device 124that may correspond, for example, to the access devices 122, 124, 126 ofFIG. 1. A second location 104 within communication system 100 comprisesa router 130 with a modem 132, and a plurality of wireless accessdevices. The plurality of access devices at the second location 104 may,for example, comprise a personal computer (PC) 138, a laptop 136, and awireless personal digital assistant (PDA) 134. A peripheral such as, forexample, a digital camera 142 may be coupled to the personal computer138. Other peripherals such as, for example, printers, digital scanners,speakers, and the like, that are not shown in FIG. 2, may also becoupled to the personal computer 138 and/or laptop 136. The wirelessinterface 120 may comprise a plurality of interfaces such as, forexample, a Bluetooth interface, a cellular interface, and anycombination of an IEEE 802.11a, b, g, and/or n interface, and/or an IEEE802.15.3a ultra-wideband interface. Although the following discussionrefers frequently to the capabilities and actions of the gateway 118 andwireless interface 120, the same may be said of the router 130 withmodem 132 of FIGS. 1 and 2, for example, without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

In accordance with a representative embodiment of the present invention,a wireless access device such as access device 124 may be mobile, andmay move between the personal area network/wireless local area networkcoverage provided by wireless interface 120 at location 102, the widearea network coverage provided by, for example, GSM network 114, and thecoverage provided by the router 130 and modem 132 at location 104. Thelocation 102 may, for example, be the home of the user of the accessdevice 124, the home of a friend or relative of the user of accessdevice 124, or an office, business, etc., where the user of accessdevice 124 may travel. The location 104 may, for example, be a secondhome of the user of access device 124, the home of a friend or relative,an office, or may have no personal or business relationship with theuser of access device 124. In a representative embodiment of the presentinvention, the gateway 118 may comprise, for example, a set top box thatmay be coupled in a wireless or wired fashion to access devices such as,for example, a laptop computer or television, such as the laptop 117 andthe television 115 of FIG. 2. Access to the communication bandwidth of abroadband network as previously described may be provided by the gateway118 and the modem 116 to wired or wireless access devices in thevicinity of location 102, and via router 130 and modem 132 to wired orwireless access devices in the vicinity of location 104, as shown inFIG. 2. This architecture may provide extended access to wirelessnetworks such as, for example, the GSM network 114, CDMA network 112,other cellular/PCS service provider 146, Internet 140 and publicswitched telephone network 108, of FIG. 1. The modem 116 is shownconnected to a broadband access provider (BAP) 106 via a broadbandconnection 107. The broadband connection 107 may comprise, for example,a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection, a cable network connection,a satellite connection, a T1 or T3 network connection, or similarbroadband communication link. The modem 116 is compatible with thebroadband connection 107, and may be, for example, a DSL modem, aDOCSIS-compliant cable modem, a satellite service modem, or T1 or T3compatible modem-type device. The broadband connection may provideaccess through BAP 106 to location 104, and via transport network 110to, for example, GSM network 114.

In the example illustration of FIG. 2, a user of the access device 124may or may not be engaged in communication with another system orsubscriber accessible via the GSM network 114, or other wide areanetwork of FIG. 1. Although the present example of FIG. 2 shows a GSMnetwork 114, a representative embodiment of the present invention may beemployed with respect to other wide area networks such as, for example,the CDMA network 112 and other cellular/PCS service provider 146, shownin FIG. 1.

When an access device such as, for example, the access device 124 ofFIG. 2 moves into the coverage area of a personal area network/wirelesslocal area network of, for example, the wireless interface 120 andgateway 118, or the router 130, the access device 124 may beauthenticated by the gateway 118 or router 130. The authentication mayinvolve the sharing or exchange of identification and/or authenticationinformation by the access device 124 with the gateway 118 or router 130.Details of an example of such an interaction are provided in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/039,020, entitled “Method And System ForProviding Registration, Authentication, And Access Via A BroadbandAccess Gateway,” filed Jan. 18, 2005, the complete subject matter ofwhich is hereby incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. Oncethe access device 124 has been authenticated to the gateway 118, theaccess device 124 may be permitted to exchange multimedia informationand services available via the access devices in communication with thegateway 118, or via networks connected to the gateway 118. Informationabout the available multimedia information and services may be shared byand/or with the access device 124 via information exchanged by theaccess device 124 and the gateway 118 or router 130. Additionalinformation about the advertising of such information may be found inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/021,294, entitled “Method And SystemFor Extended Network Access Services Advertising Via A Broadband AccessGateway,” filed Dec. 23, 2004, the complete subject matter of which ishereby incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. In arepresentative embodiment of the present invention, a broadband accessgateway such as, for example, the gateway 118 or the router 130 of FIG.2 may maintain a database of the information about the availablemultimedia information and services, described above. Details of anexample of such a database of information about access device data maybe found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/095,842, entitled“Registering Access Device Multimedia Content Via A Broadband AccessGateway,” filed Mar. 30, 2005, the complete subject matter of which ishereby incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, an accessdevice such as, for example, the laptop 117 and digital video camera121, at location 102, and the laptop 136 and the personal computer 138,at location 104, may be capable of storing multimedia informationdelivered via a broadband access gateway such as, for example, thegateway 118 of FIG. 2. In addition, resources accessible via a broadbandnetwork such as, for example, a digital subscriber line network, asatellite network, an Internet network, or private network that isaccessible via the modem 116 may be capable of storing multimediainformation for the user of an access device in communication with thegateway 118 or the router 130.

Many access devices like those described with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2have the basic functionality necessary to enable them to act as storagedevices for multimedia information. For example, it is common forpresent day personal computers such as, for example, the laptop 117 atlocation 102, and the laptop 136 and personal computer 138 at location104, to have a hard disk drive, and a writeable compact disk (CD) driveor a writeable digital versatile disk (DVD) drive for the storage ofdata, programs, and media files. Such storage devices may be employed bya representative embodiment of the present invention as a storageresource that may be made available to users of other access devices incommunication with a broadband access gateway.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of an exemplary communication system 300supporting aggregation of multimedia information storage that maycorrespond, for example, to a portion of the communication system 100 ofFIG. 2, in accordance with a representative embodiment of the presentinvention. The communication system 300 of FIG. 3 comprises a gateway118 that may correspond, for example, to the gateway 118 or the router130 of FIG. 2. The gateway 118 in FIG. 3 comprises a processor 151 thatis communicatively coupled to a wireless interface 120, a modem 116, anda laptop 117. The wireless interface 120, the modem 116, and the laptop117 may correspond, for example, to the wireless interface 120, themodem 116, and the laptop 117 of FIG. 2. The modem 116 may provide thegateway 118 with access to a broadband connection 107 that may, forexample, comprise a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection, a cablenetwork connection, a satellite connection, a T1 or T3 networkconnection, or similar broadband communication link to a broadbandaccess provider (BAP) 106. As shown in FIG. 3, the wireless interface120 is communicatively coupled to a number of access devices includingthe access device 124, a wireless personal digital assistant 119, adigital versatile disc (DVD) unit 125, a personal video recorder (PVR)123, and a digital video camera 121. The gateway 118 of thecommunication system 300 of FIG. 3 also comprises a database 152 and astorage management application 153 that are accessible to the processor151. The wireless interface 120 may comprise any combination ofinterfaces such as, for example, a Bluetooth interface, an IEEE 802.11a,b, g and/or n interface, and an IEEE 802.15.3a ultra-wideband interface.Although many of the access devices shown in FIG. 3 are illustrated asbeing in wireless communication with the gateway 118, use of eitherwired or wireless communication may be employed without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention. In addition, the accessdevice 124 and PDA 119 may be capable of communication via either orboth of the wireless interface 120 and a wireless wide area network(WAN) such as, for example, the GSM network 114 of FIG. 2.

A broadband access gateway in accordance with a representativeembodiment of the present invention may facilitate the storage andretrieval of multimedia information by a user of an access device suchas, for example, the access device 124. A broadband access gateway suchas, for example, the gateway 118 of FIG. 3 may identify accessiblestorage resources, and may make those storage resources available to auser of an authorized access device via either or both of the wirelessinterface 120, and the modem 116 and the broadband connection 107.Information about the storage resource available on each of the accessdevices in communication with the broadband access gateway may begathered, for example, during registration of access device services anddata. This may occur, for example, when each access device enters intocommunication with the gateway 118, or periodically thereafter. Anexample, of one such resource registration mechanism may be found inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/095,842, entitled “RegisteringAccess Device Multimedia Content Via a Broadband Access Gateway,” filedMar. 30, 2005, the complete subject matter of which is herebyincorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. A broadband accessgateway in accordance with a representative embodiment of the presentinvention may use such a mechanism to detect the presence of an accessdevice that is accessible to a broadband access gateway via either wiredor wireless link, and may authenticate that access device. The broadbandaccess gateway may then collect information about the multimediainformation and media related services available on each access device,including the availability of any unused storage, and may build adatabase of the collected information such as, for example, the database152 illustrated in FIG. 3.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, a broadbandaccess gateway such as, for example, the gateway 118 may, uponidentifying an available storage resource, classify the resourceaccording to various characteristics. Examples of such characteristicsmay include, for example, the speed of the storage device, the cost ofstorage, the expected security or privacy of items stored on the device,the expectation of future accessibility of the storage device, theavailable capacity of the device, and a number of others factors. Thegateway 118 may then use such characteristics along with user-definedcriteria to select a suitable storage resource, when a user request forstorage of multimedia information is received. In accordance with arepresentative embodiment of the present invention, a broadband accessgateway such as, for example, the gateway 118 or the router 130 of FIG.3, need not comprise sufficient storage on which to save the multimediainformation of the user. The gateway 118 may act as an aggregator ormanager of the storage of multimedia information across multiple storageresources.

A representative embodiment of the present invention may provide a userinterface comprising an icon that represents a storage function. Theuser of the access device need not have knowledge of the actual physicallocation(s) of the available storage, or of the storage media used. Thestorage represented by the icon may, in fact, comprise a number ofblocks of storage of various sizes, available on a number of differentaccess devices or on a storage service accessible via a broadbandnetwork such as, for example, the broadband connection 107 of FIG. 3. Itis a function of a representative embodiment of the present invention tomaintain a database of information about storage that is available, toallocate space from the available storage upon receipt of a userrequest, and to track the stored information to enable later retrieval.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, a broadbandaccess gateway such as, for example, the gateway 118 or the router 130may use the database 152 containing information about stored multimediainformation items to identify the storage locations of the requestedmultimedia information, and to manage or coordinate the retrieval,reassembly, and delivery to the user of the multimedia information fromthe identified storage locations.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, a user mayspecify the particulars of access devices upon which multimediainformation may be stored. For example, a user of an access device mayhave in their home a broadband access gateway such as, for example, thegateway 118 or the router 130. The broadband access gateway may haveaccess to the remaining storage capacity on, for example, a hard driveof a personal computer such as the personal computer 138 of FIG. 3. Theuser may also have knowledge of a storage service accessible via thebroadband connection 107. In a representative embodiment of the presentinvention, a user may identify specific storage resources to be used bya broadband access gateway such as, for example, the gateway 118, tostore multimedia information.

FIG. 3A shows an exemplary communication system 300 comprising storageservices 141, 142, 143 that may be employed as a storage resource by abroadband access gateway, in accordance with a representative embodimentof the present invention. The elements of the illustration shown in FIG.3A may correspond, for example, to the elements of FIG. 3 having thesame numeric identifiers. In the illustration of FIG. 3A, the storageservice 141 is accessible to the gateway 118 with the modem 116 via abroadband connection 107, broadband access provider 106, transportnetwork 110, and Internet network 140. The storage service 142 iscommunicatively coupled to the BAP 106, and the storage service 143 isaccessible via the wireless carrier central office 114 b of GSM network114. A representative embodiment of the present invention may employ astorage service such as, for example, the storage services 141, 142, 143to enable the storage of multimedia information of a user. For example,a storage service communicatively accessible to the gateway 118 of FIG.3A may support storage of only a portion of or the entirety ofmultimedia information of users of access devices such as the accessdevice 124, the laptop 117, and the PC 138 of FIG. 3A. A storage servicesuch as the storage services 141, 142, 143 may be identified byinformation such as, for example, an Internet protocol (IP) address, amedia access control (MAC) address, an International Mobile StationIdentifier (IMSI) address, and a Mobile Identification Number (MIN)address, a manufacturer identifier, a model identifier, and a typeidentifier.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, a broadbandaccess gateway such as for example, the gateway 118 or the router 130 ofFIG. 3A may determine that requested multimedia information isinaccessible. This may be due to the fact that the storage resource usedto store a portion or all of the desired multimedia information is aremovable storage device such as, for example, a removable hard diskdrive, a CD-R/W disk, a video cassette, or another form of removablemedia. In another instance, the desired multimedia information may havebeen stored on a storage device that is no longer in communication withthe gateway 118 such as, for example, the laptop 117 when a user of thelaptop 117 has severed communication with the gateway 118 (e.g., movedit to a new location). In such circumstances, a representativeembodiment of the present invention may inform the user attempting theretrieval of the inability to access the desired multimedia information,and may provide information to the user about the storage resource suchas, for example, the identity of the storage resource, the location ofthe storage resource, possibly enabling the user to once again make themultimedia information available. For example, in the case of removablemedia such as a writeable DVD, a CD-R/W disk, or a digital videocassette, the user may use the information provided to locate and returnthe removable media to the access device in communication with thegateway 118.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary storage resource screen 400 for use inspecifying the particulars of storage resources to be used by abroadband access gateway such as, for example, the gateway 118 of FIGS.2, 3, 3A for storing multimedia information, in accordance with arepresentative embodiment of the present invention. The storage resourcescreen 400 illustrated in FIG. 4 is arranged in a tabular formatcomprising a “Storage Location” column 410, a “Storage Type” column 412,a “Cost” column 414, a “Data Rate” column 416, a “Reliability” column418, and an “Accessibility” column 420. Five entries are shown for fourdifferent types of storage resources comprising a “Dad's PC Drive C”entry 422, a “Dad's PC Drive E” entry 424, a “Mom's PC Drive C” entry426, a “WeStore.com” entry 428, and a “Dad's Camcorder” entry 430. Thestorage resource screen 400 is only one example of a user interface thatmay be presented to a user of an access device such as, for example, theaccess device 124, the laptop 117, or the PC 138 shown in FIG. 3. Otherforms of user interface such as, for example, a graphical userinterface, or a user interface presenting a different arrangement orassortment of information may be employed without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention. The information representedin the storage resource screen 400 may have been provided by a user, ormay have been generated as a result of search or registration activitiesof a broadband access gateway in accordance with a representativeembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the “Dad's PC Drive C” entry 422 indicates that astorage resource of type “Hard Disk” is present on “Dad's PC Drive C”,has a cost (e.g., in dollars per gigabyte per month) of $0.00, supportshigh-speed data transfer, is considered to be medium in reliability, andis immediately accessible. In contrast, the storage resource listed inthe “Dad's PC Drive E” entry 424 is of type “CD-R/W Drive”, also has acost of $0.00 per gigabyte-month, supports medium-speed data transfer,is considered to be medium in reliability, and may be subject to delaysin accessibility (e.g., if a disk is not in the drive or has noremaining storage capacity). The “WeStore.com” entry 428 illustrates anexample of a storage resource that may be accessible via a broadbandnetwork connected to a broadband access gateway such as, for example,the broadband connection 107 communicatively coupled to the gateway 118of FIG. 3. This particular storage resource is shown in FIG. 4 as type“Service”, with a storage cost of $0.20 per gigabyte per month. The datatransfer rate of this resource is indicated to be low, the reliabilityto be high, and this storage resource is considered to be immediatelyaccessible. The “Dad's Camcorder” entry 430 illustrates an example of astorage resource comprising a digital video camera such as, for example,the digital video camera 121 shown in FIG. 3. The type of this storageresource is shown as “Tape”. The cost per gigabyte per month is shown as$0.00, which may be due to the large capacity and low cost of thestorage medium. The data rate is shown as low, the reliability isconsidered to be low, and the accessibility is subject to delays suchas, for example, when an appropriate tape is not present in the digitalvideo camera 121. The information represented in the storage resourcescreen 400 may be employed by a representative embodiment of the presentinvention when selecting a storage resource for the multimediainformation of a user. The storage resource characteristics shown incolumns 412, 141, 416, 418, 420 of FIG. 4 may be used, for example, in aselection process employing user defined criteria.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary storage selection criteria screen 500 for usein specifying the desirable characteristics of candidate storageresources to be used by a broadband access gateway such as, for example,the gateway 118 of FIGS. 2, 3, 3A in storing multimedia information, inaccordance with a representative embodiment of the present invention.The storage selection criteria screen 500 illustrated in FIG. 5 isarranged in a tabular format comprising an “Information Type” column510, a “Cost” column 512, a “Data Rate” column 514, a “Reliability”column 516, and an “Accessibility” column 518. Six entries are shownrepresenting the criteria for storage resources used to store sixdifferent types of multimedia information comprising a “Video” entry522, a “Music” entry 524, a “Voicemail” entry 526, a “Financial” entry528, an “Email” entry 530, and a “Still Image” entry 532. The storageselection criteria screen 500 is only one example of a user interfacethat may be presented to a user of an access device such as, forexample, the access device 124, the laptop 117, or the PC 138 shown inFIG. 3. Other forms of user interface such as, for example, a graphicaluser interface, or a user interface presenting a different arrangementor assortment of information may be employed without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

In the illustration of FIG. 5, a set of criteria represented by the“Video” entry 522 indicates that the user desires to store multimediainformation identified as “Video” on a storage device for which thecosts do not exceed $0.05 per gigabyte per month, that the devicesupport a high data transfer rate (i.e., speed), that the storage devicebe of medium reliability, and that the user is accepting of delayedaccess to the storage device. The criteria illustrated for a storagedevice to be used for storing multimedia information identified in the“Music” entry 524 shows that the cost is not to exceed $0.05 pergigabyte per month, that a device supporting a low data rate isacceptable, that the user is accepting of a storage device of lowreliability, and that access to information on the storage device may bedelayed. The criteria for the storage device used for storing multimediainformation represented by the “Voicemail” entry 526 shows that the costis not to exceed $0.05 per gigabyte per month, that support of a lowdata rate is acceptable, that the user is accepting of a storage devicehaving medium reliability, and that immediate access to storedinformation is desired. Somewhat different criteria have been defined bythe user of the example of FIG. 5 for the storage of financial records,as shown in the “Financial” entry 528. In this case, the user isaccepting of a higher cost of storage (i.e., up to $0.25 per gigabyteper month), that the data rate of transfers be high, that a highlyreliable storage resource be used, and that the stored information beimmediately accessible. In contrast, storage resources used for email,as shown in “Email” entry 530 may be limited to no more than $0.05 pergigabyte per month, that the selected storage resource be of highreliability, and that email information be immediately accessible. Asshown in the illustration of FIG. 5, storage selection criteria for the“Still Image” entry 532 have been set such that the cost of the storageresource should not exceed $0.05 per gigabyte per month, the datatransfer rate may be low, the reliability of the storage resource shouldbe medium, and the accessibility may be delayed. Although theillustration of FIG. 5 comprises six identified information types, thisdoes not represent a particular limitation of the present invention, asother information types and a different set of storage selectioncriteria may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention.

A broadband access gateway in accordance with a representativeembodiment of the present invention may classify multimedia informationfor storage into one of a number of different categories such as, forexample, those shown in the information type column 510 illustrated inFIG. 5. For example, a broadband access gateway such as, for example,the gateway 118 or the router 130 of FIG. 3 may examine the contents orassociated meta-data of multimedia information to be stored. Statisticalcharacteristics, predefined data sequences, file header information, afile extension or filename, or other meta-data may be used to classify aparticular grouping or item of multimedia information as being of aparticular type. The classification of each stored item or grouping ofmultimedia information may be used to organize multimedia information byinformation type. For example, a broadband access gateway may create adatabase of stored multimedia items where the items are indexed by anumber of parameters including, for example, the information type, thestorage date and time, the size of the item, the date and time ofcreation of the multimedia information, the user performing the storage,the location of the storage resource(s) used to store the item, andnumerous other aspects. Later, when a user seeks to retrieve one or moreitems of multimedia information, the user may be presented with, forexample, a text listing or a group of icons representing the variousdimensions or categories under which the broadband access gatewayclassified each of the stored multimedia information items. The user mayalso be provided with search tools to allow searching of all storedmultimedia information items, or those within a particular category ortype (e.g., video, music, voicemail, etc.), those stored on a particulardate, by a particular user, etc.

A representative embodiment of the present invention may make availableto the user information about where multimedia information items havebeen stored. Such information may identify particulars of the storage onthe device such as, for example, an information type, a storage devicetype, a volume identifier, a filename, an Internet protocol (IP)address, a universal resource locator (URL), a service identifier, andan identifier of the user storing the multimedia information, among avariety of other aspects. Additional information including, for example,a date of storage, and a size of the portion of stored multimediainformation may also be made available.

A broadband access gateway in accordance with a representativeembodiment of the present invention such as, for example, the gateway118 or the router 130 may determine that no one storage resource iscapable of accepting the entire amount of multimedia information to bestored, and may parse the multimedia information for storage intoportions able to be stored on available storage resources. The broadbandaccess gateway may distribute the portions across the available storageresources without involving a user, and the user seeking to store themultimedia information may be unaware of the storage resource(s) used.In a complementary fashion, a broadband access gateway such as, forexample, the gateway 118 or the router 130 may reassemble thedistributed portions of stored multimedia information from the variousstorage resources, upon receipt of a request to access the storedmultimedia information.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, support foraggregation of multimedia storage may be provided to the user in theform of a designated icon of a user interface. The user interface maypermit a user to simply “drag and drop” icons representing multimediainformation to be stored onto the designated icon representing thestorage aggregation functionality in order to store the multimediainformation. A user of a representative embodiment of the presentinvention may not be involved in the specifics of the storage resourcesused, their location, etc., and may accept the storage resource(s) usedbased upon the user-defined storage selection criteria described above.In addition, a user may select an icon representing the storageaggregation functionality to open an interface displaying informationabout stored multimedia information.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary stored multimedia information screen 600listing a number of items of multimedia information stored using thestorage aggregation functionality of a broadband access gateway such as,for example, the gateway 118 of FIGS. 2, 3, 3A, in accordance with arepresentative embodiment of the present invention. The storedmultimedia information screen 600 illustrated in FIG. 6 is arranged in atabular format comprising an “Identifier” column 610, a “Type” column612, a “User” column 614, a “Date Stored” column 616, a “Size” column618, and a “Storage Location” column 620. Five entries are shownrepresenting the storage of four multimedia items comprising two “Jim'sWedding” entries 620, 622, a “School Concert” entry 624, an “ClaptonLive!” entry 626, and an “Teddy's Email” entry 628. The storedmultimedia information screen 600 of FIG. 6 is only an example of oneuser interface that may be presented to a user of an access device suchas, for example, the access device 124, the laptop 117, or the PC 138shown in FIG. 3. Other forms of user interface such as, for example, agraphical user interface, or a user interface presenting a differentarrangement or assortment of information may be employed withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Theillustration of FIG. 6 shows that the multimedia information item with“Jim's Wedding” in the “Identifier” column 610 comprises multimediainformation stored on two storage resources “Dad's PC Drive C” and“Mom's PC Drive C”. The “Jim's Wedding” entry 622 shows that 217megabytes of type “Video” were stored on “Dad's PC Drive C” on Dec. 16,2004, while the “Jim's Wedding” entry 624 indicates that an additional423 megabytes of type “Video” were stored on “Mom's PC Drive C” on thesame date. The “School Concert” entry 626 shows that 2.32 megabytes oftype “Music” were stored on storage resource “Mom's PC Drive C” by “Mom”on Dec. 25, 2003. Multimedia information identified as “Clapton Live!”was stored by “Teddy” on Oct. 4, 2003 on storage service“www.WeStore.com”, occupying 60.1 megabytes of space. Finally, the lastentry of FIG. 6 shows that “Dad” stored 321 kilobytes of type “Email” onthe storage resource “Dad's PC Drive C” on May 30, 2001.

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method supporting aggregationof multimedia information via a broadband access gateway such as, forexample, the gateway 118 of FIGS. 2, 3, 3A, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As an aid to understanding, thefollowing description of the method of FIG. 7 makes reference to theelements of FIG. 2. The flowchart of FIG. 7 is arranged having a leftand a right path, to illustrate that the activities of the two paths mayproceed in parallel. The method of FIG. 7 begins when a broadband accessgateway such as, for example, the gateway 118 is powered up (block 710).In the left path of FIG. 7, a broadband access gateway such as, forexample, the gateway 118 may act to maintain a database of storageresources accessible to the gateway 118 (block 712). For example, thegateway 118 may collect, among other things, information about storageresources available on each of the access devices with which it is incommunication. This may include access devices such as, for example, thelaptop 117, the wireless PDA 119, and the personal video recorder 123 ofFIG. 3. In addition, the gateway 118 may seek information about storageresources available via, for example, a broadband network connectionsuch as the broadband network 107. Such information may be received, forexample, during the registration of an access device as described above,may be periodically requested by the gateway 118, or may be provided bya user. Such storage resources may comprise multimedia informationstorage on storage resources such as, for example, hard disk drives,floppy disk drives, optical (CD and DVD) devices, digital tape, solidstate (FLASH) memory, and a variety of other storage media. The methodshown in FIG. 7 then ends (block 730). Although the method asillustrated in FIG. 7 ends at block 730, it is shown in this manner forreasons of clarity. In a representative embodiment of the presentinvention, the actions of the left path of FIG. 7 may be performedrepeatedly.

Referring now to the right path of the flowchart of FIG. 7, a broadbandaccess gateway such as, for example, the gateway 118 of FIG. 3 mayreceive identification information from the access device of a user(block 716). This may occur, for example, when the access device firstcomes into communication with a broadband access gateway such as, forexample, the gateway 118, or periodically while in communication withthe gateway 118. Some of the information received may become a part ofthe database referenced above with respect to block 712 that maycorrespond to, for example, the database 152 of FIG. 3. Next, arepresentative embodiment of the present invention may receive a userrequest to store multimedia information (block 718). Multimediainformation may comprise, for example, streaming video, broadcast video,voice, digital data, text, digitized audio, digitized still images,digitized video, and digitized music. The gateway 118 may then accessuser-defined storage selection criteria (block 720). An example set ofstorage selection criteria is described with respect to FIG. 5, above.The gateway 118 may then classify the multimedia information to bestored into one of a number of different types (block 722). As describedabove, statistical characteristics, predefined data sequences, fileheader information, a file extension or filename, or other meta-data maybe used to classify multimedia information as being of a particulartype. A broadband access gateway in accordance with a representativeembodiment of the present invention may then select the storageresource(s) for storage of the user multimedia information, using thestorage selection criteria and multimedia information type (block 724).For example, the gateway 118 may match criteria corresponding to thetype of the multimedia information to be stored, to the characteristicsof the available storage resources. If no resource matches all criteria,a best choice may be made. Next, the gateway 118 may store themultimedia information on the selected storage resource(s) (block 726).In a representative embodiment of the present invention, the multimediainformation may be stored on a single storage resource, or may be spreadacross a number of storage resources. The broadband access gateway maythen save information to enable later access to the stored multimediainformation (block 728). Information that may permit later access mayinclude, for example, one or more of a file name, a multimediainformation type, a date, a size, a user identifier, and a storageresource identifier. The method shown in FIG. 7 then ends (block 730).

Aspects of the present invention may be found in a system supportingdistribution and aggregation of multimedia information via a broadbandaccess gateway. Such a system may comprise a gateway communicativelycoupled to a broadband network and at least one wireless interface. Thegateway may be capable of selectively exchanging multimedia informationamong the at least one wireless interface and the broadband network, andof communicating with the plurality of access devices via the at leastone wireless interface. The gateway may also be capable of collecting,from at least a portion of the plurality of access devices, informationidentifying at least one storage resource available for the storage ofmultimedia information, and of receiving, from one of the plurality ofaccess devices, a user request for storage of multimedia information.The gateway may be capable of selecting from the at least one storageresource, aggregate storage capacity for storing the multimediainformation using the collected information, and of causing storage ofthe multimedia information using the selected aggregate storagecapacity.

In various representative embodiments of the present invention,multimedia information may comprise at least one of streaming video,broadcast video, voice, digital data, text, digitized audio, digitizedstill images, digitized video, and digitized music. The informationidentifying the at least one storage resource may comprises at least oneof an electronic serial number, an Internet protocol (IP) address, amedia access control (MAC) address, an International Mobile StationIdentifier (IMSI) address, a Mobile Identification Number (MIN) address,a manufacturer identifier, a model identifier, and a type identifier.The at least one wireless interface may be compliant with the BluetoothV1.2 or compatible personal area network (PAN) specification, maycommunicate using an unlicensed frequency band, and may communicate at afrequency of approximately 2.4 gigahertz. The at least one wirelessinterface may be compliant with at least one of the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g,and 802.11n standards. The broadband network in a representativeembodiment of the present invention may comprise at least one of adigital subscriber line (DSL) network, a cable network, a satellitenetwork, a cellular network, and the Internet. The cellular network maycomprise at least one of a global system for mobile communications (GSM)network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a code divisionmultiple access (CDMA) network, and a universal mobiletelecommunications system (UMTS) network.

The gateway of a representative embodiment in accordance with thepresent invention may be capable of receiving at least one ofinformation identifying an access device and information identifying auser, and of authenticating the user request based upon the receivedidentifying information. The information identifying a user may compriseat least one of a member identifier, a user name, an administrativeidentifier, a digital certificate, and a credit card number. Theinformation identifying an access device may comprise at least one of anelectronic serial number, an Internet protocol (IP) address, a mediaaccess control (MAC) address, a manufacturer identifier, a modelidentifier, and a type identifier. The gateway may be capable of savinginformation enabling retrieval of the stored multimedia information fromthe selected aggregate storage capacity, and of managing retrieval ofthe stored multimedia information using the saved information. The atleast one storage resource may comprise at least one of an accessdevice, a hard disk drive, a compact disk (CD) drive, a digitalversatile disk (DVD) drive, a digital video camera, and a storageservice. The plurality of access devices may comprise at least one of amobile multimedia handset, a personal digital assistant (PDA), apersonal computer (PC), a personal video recorder (PVR), a videocassette recorder (VCR), and a digital camera. The request may bereceived via the at least one wireless interface, and the request may bereceived via the broadband network.

Other aspects of the present invention may be found in a method forsupporting distribution and aggregation of multimedia information via abroadband access gateway. A method in accordance with a representativeembodiment of the present invention may comprise collecting, from atleast a portion of the plurality of access devices, informationidentifying at least one storage resource available for the storage ofmultimedia information. The method may also comprise receiving, from oneof the plurality of access devices, a user request for storage ofmultimedia information, and selecting from the at least one storageresource, aggregate storage capacity for storing the multimediainformation using the collected information. In addition, such a methodmay comprise causing storage of the multimedia information using theselected aggregate storage capacity. The method may also compriseexchanging multimedia information among at least one wireless interfaceand a broadband network. The at least one wireless interface may becompliant with the Bluetooth V1.2 or compatible personal area network(PAN) specification, may communicate using an unlicensed frequency band,and may communicate at a frequency of approximately 2.4 gigahertz. Theat least one wireless interface may be compliant with at least one ofthe Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11a,802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n standards. The broadband network maycomprise at least one of a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, acable network, a satellite network, a cellular network, and theInternet. The cellular network may comprise at least one of a globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM) network, a time division multipleaccess (TDMA) network, a code division multiple access (CDMA) network,and a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) network.

Multimedia information in various representative embodiments of thepresent invention may comprise at least one of streaming video,broadcast video, voice, digital data, text, digitized audio, digitizedstill images, digitized video, and digitized music. The informationidentifying the at least one storage resource may comprise at least oneof an electronic serial number, an Internet protocol (IP) address, amedia access control (MAC) address, an International Mobile StationIdentifier (IMSI) address, a Mobile Identification Number (MIN) address,a manufacturer identifier, a model identifier, and a type identifier.

A representative embodiment of the present invention may also comprisereceiving at least one of information identifying an access device andinformation identifying a user, and authenticating the user requestbased upon the received identifying information. The informationidentifying a user may comprise at least one of a member identifier, auser name, an administrative identifier, a digital certificate, and acredit card number. The information identifying an access device maycomprise at least one of an electronic serial number, an Internetprotocol (IP) address, a media access control (MAC) address, amanufacturer identifier, a model identifier, and a type identifier. Arepresentative embodiment in accordance with the present invention mayalso comprise saving information enabling retrieval of the storedmultimedia information from the selected aggregate storage capacity, andmanaging retrieval of the stored multimedia information using the savedinformation. The at least one storage resource may comprise at least oneof an access device, a hard disk drive, a compact disk (CD) drive, adigital versatile disk (DVD) drive, a digital video camera, and astorage service. The plurality of access devices may comprise at leastone of a mobile multimedia handset, a personal digital assistant (PDA),a personal computer (PC), a personal video recorder (PVR), a videocassette recorder (VCR), and a digital camera. The request may bereceived via the at least one wireless interface, and the request may bereceived via the broadband network.

Yet other aspects of the present invention may be observed in amachine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer programhaving a plurality of code sections executable by a machine, for causingthe machine to perform the operations of the method described above.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, the wirelesslocal area networks may include data networks such as, for example,Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE) 802.11a/b/g/ncompliant wireless networks such as those located in homes, hot spots oran office. Such local area networks may operate in unlicensed radiofrequency spectrum such as in, for example, the 2.4 and 5 gigahertzregions. Examples of wide area networks may include cellular digitalpacket data (CDPD), voice and data networks such as public switchedtelephone networks (PSTN), Global System For Mobile Communication (GSM),GSM General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), GSM Short Message Service(SMS), GSM Enhanced Data Rates For Global Evolution (EDGE), NorthAmerican Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA), iDEN, Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA) and CDMA2000 1xRT, Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) network, to name only a few.

A personal area network (PAN) may be formed by a plurality of wirelesscommunication access devices such as, for example, mobile multimediahandsets, PDAs, telephones, and computers. Other elements of such anetwork may, for example, include computer peripherals such as digitalscanners, digital cameras, printers, headphones, and pointing devices,that may be located within the immediate proximity of a person. A PANmay be an ad-hoc network of such communication devices. In arepresentative embodiment of the present invention, access deviceswithin the PAN may communicate with other access devices within the PANand also with other access devices that are located in other networksaccessible via the PAN. The personal area networks may include datanetworks such as, for example, a Bluetooth compliant network, andInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE) 802.15.3acompliant wireless networks. Such personal area networks may operate inunlicensed radio frequency spectrum such as, for example, the 2.4 and 5gigahertz regions. Details of one example of a personal area network areprovided in the document “Bluetooth Core Specification V1.2”, Nov. 5,2003, from Bluetooth SIG, Inc., the complete subject matter of which ishereby incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. For example,in a Bluetooth® wireless PAN, a first Bluetooth®-enabled wireless accessdevice may communicate with a second Bluetooth®-enabled wireless accessdevice within the PAN. Additionally, either of the first and secondBluetooth®-enabled wireless access devices may communicate with theInternet or another LAN or WAN via the Bluetooth® wireless PAN.

In a representative embodiment of the present invention, a gateway maybe adapted to provide seamless and transparent communication between aplurality of access devices and a plurality of networks. Thefunctionality of the gateway may be divided, for example, intoapplication content functionality, and configuration and managementfunctionality. The application content functionality may, for example,deal with the types of applications that may be supported by the gatewayas well as the various types of data that may be received, processedand/or transmitted by the gateway. In this regard, application contentfunctionality may also include the manner in which other devices and/orsystems may utilize data from the gateway.

Content and application services are important because all theinformation coming into and leaving the home from either the WAN side(i.e., the broadband connection side), or from the PAN side (i.e., theaccess device side) converges at the gateway. The PAN side may compriseBluetooth, wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n), IEEE 802.15.3aultra-wideband, or cellular, for example. Notwithstanding, the gatewaymay be adapted to convert, for example, wirelessly receivedGSM-formatted information into, for example, Internet protocol(IP)-formatted information and in reverse, converts IP-formattedinformation into wireless GSM-formatted information suitable forover-the-air transmission. Support for other wireless communicationprotocols such as TDMA, CDMA, and UMTS may also be provided. In arepresentative embodiment of the present invention, the gateway maycomprise suitable circuitry, logic and/or code that may be adapted toreceive and process MPEG related data, which may be suitable for displayon a screen. The gateway in an embodiment of the present inventionfunctions as a focal point where data converges from a plurality ofwired and wireless services. Although, in a particular embodiment of thepresent invention the gateway may do very little in terms of actualcontent aggregation, there is virtual aggregation of data. The convergeddata may be integrated and or otherwise utilized to offer uniqueopportunities for launching various content and application servicesfrom a single strategic location. Since the gateway in an embodiment ofthe present invention is the focal point where data converges, one ormore protocol stacks may be employed for launching the various contentand application services.

The gateway in a representative embodiment of the present invention maybe adapted to route calls based on established rules that may beprogrammed into the gateway. For example, the gateway may be governed bya rule which states that local calls are to be routed to an incumbentlocal exchange carrier (iLEC), while long distance calls are to behandled by Long Distance Carrier Company. Accordingly, when a calloriginates at the gateway and it is determined that the call is a localcall, the gateway may be adapted to route the call to the iLEC. However,if the gateway determines that the call is a long distance call, thenthe gateway may be adapted to route the call to Long Distance CarrierCompany.

A representative embodiment of the present invention may leverageexisting broadband infrastructure that is commonly found in many homesand businesses today. Because a consumer is already paying for the useof the broadband infrastructure in their home or office, leveraging theuse of the existing broadband infrastructure for communication with widearea networks results in minimal or no communication costs. Thebroadband infrastructure may be, for example, a cable or DSLinfrastructure.

The wireless interface function provided by the gateway located within ahome, for example, may be utilized to route or communicate a great dealof traffic to a wired network such as a broadband network or a wirelessnetwork such as a GSM or CDMA network via a broadband connection. Inother words, the wireless gateway infrastructure provided by arepresentative embodiment of the present invention provides a scalablenetwork infrastructure that rides on an existing access infrastructurealready supplied by a broadband service provider to a home, office orbusiness. Additionally, the scalable infrastructure provided by thegateway also solves the problems associated with signal penetration andpropagation, thereby providing improved quality of service (QoS). From amarket perspective, a wireless service provider may now have access tothe necessary infrastructure to provide improved wireless services tousers within a home or office. Accordingly, in order to rapidly increasetheir growth, wireless service providers may now target that portion ofthe in-home landline or plain old telephone system (POTS) business,which have traditionally been handled by incumbent local exchangecarriers (ILECs) or other LECs.

The unlicensed mobile access gateway described above may possess asignificant amount of processing power. The gateways of existing systemsfall short of realizing the full potential of the merged wired andwireless communication network that is enabled by a representativeembodiment of the present invention. Numerous basic and enhancedcommunication services may be enabled or provided by the gateway.Support for access devices such as, for example, mobile multimediahandsets and PDAs may be involved in order to utilize these basic andenhanced communication services enabled by the new wave of digitaltechnologies. Current and/or proposed mobile access gateway systems,however, do not provide the range of support needed for their use by theeveryday consumer.

Accordingly, the present invention may be realized in hardware,software, or a combination of hardware and software. The presentinvention may be realized in a centralized fashion in at least onecomputer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elementsare spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind ofcomputer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methodsdescribed herein is suited. A typical combination of hardware andsoftware may be a general-purpose computer system with a computerprogram that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computersystem such that it carries out the methods described herein.

The present invention may also be embedded in a computer programproduct, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation ofthe methods described herein, and which when loaded in a computer systemis able to carry out these methods. Computer program in the presentcontext means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of aset of instructions intended to cause a system having an informationprocessing capability to perform a particular function either directlyor after either or both of the following: a) conversion to anotherlanguage, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different materialform.

While the present invention has been described with reference to certainembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. In addition, manymodifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material tothe teachings of the present invention without departing from its scope.Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited tothe particular embodiment disclosed, but that the present invention willinclude all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

The methods, devices, and logic described above may be implemented inmany different ways in many different combinations of hardware, softwareor both hardware and software. For example, all or parts of the systemmay include circuitry in a controller, a microprocessor, or anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or may be implementedwith discrete logic or components, or a combination of other types ofanalog or digital circuitry, combined on a single integrated circuit ordistributed among multiple integrated circuits. All or part of the logicdescribed above may be implemented as instructions for execution by aprocessor, controller, or other processing device and may be stored in atangible or non-transitory machine-readable or computer-readable mediumsuch as flash memory, random access memory (RAM) or read only memory(ROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) or othermachine-readable medium such as a compact disc read only memory (CDROM),or magnetic or optical disk. Thus, a product, such as a computer programproduct, may include a storage medium and computer readable instructionsstored on the medium, which when executed in an endpoint, computersystem, or other device, cause the device to perform operationsaccording to any of the description above.

The processing capability of the system may be distributed amongmultiple system components, such as among multiple processors andmemories, optionally including multiple distributed processing systems.Parameters, databases, and other data structures may be separatelystored and managed, may be incorporated into a single memory ordatabase, may be logically and physically organized in many differentways, and may implemented in many ways, including data structures suchas linked lists, hash tables, or implicit storage mechanisms. Programsmay be parts (e.g., subroutines) of a single program, separate programs,distributed across several memories and processors, or implemented inmany different ways, such as in a library, such as a shared library(e.g., a dynamic link library (DLL)). The DLL, for example, may storecode that performs any of the system processing described above. Whilevarious embodiments of the invention have been described, it will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many moreembodiments and implementations are possible within the scope of theinvention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except inlight of the attached claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: at a gateway in datacommunication with a broadband network and a plurality of networks,communicating with one or more access devices over respective networksof the plurality of networks to identify data storage resources of theone or more access devices which are accessible over the respectivenetworks of the plurality of networks, the data storage resourcesincluding storage devices in which data is stored by the gateway forsubsequent access; storing information about the identified data storageresources of the one or more access devices in a database accessible bythe gateway, the stored information including information aboutavailability of any unused storage resources of the one or more accessdevices; at the gateway, collecting information over the respectivenetworks about access devices which are wirelessly accessible over therespective networks and collecting information about stored multimediainformation and media related services available on each access device;at the gateway, classifying the stored multimedia information based onone or more of a statistical characteristic, predefined data sequence,file header information, file extension and a filename, includingclassifying the stored multimedia information based on a speed of astorage medium, a cost of storage of the storage medium, an expectedsecurity of the storage medium and available storage capacity of thestorage medium; and at the gateway, using the information stored in thedatabase, selecting a portion of the identified data storage resourcesof the one or more access devices for storage or retrieval of themultimedia information and media related services.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein selecting a portion of the identified data storageresources of the one or more access devices for storage or retrieval ofthe multimedia information comprises locating stored information basedon a particular classification criterion.
 3. The method of claim 1further comprising: at the gateway, detecting presence of a new accessdevice which is accessible by a wireless link; initiating communicationwith the new access device; authenticating the new access device;collecting information over the wireless link about multimediainformation and media related services available on the new accessdevice; and storing the collected information in the database.
 4. Amethod comprising: at a gateway in data communication with a broadbandnetwork and a plurality of networks, communicating with one or moreaccess devices over respective networks of the plurality of networks toidentify data storage resources of the one or more access devices whichare accessible over the respective networks of the plurality ofnetworks, the data storage resources including storage devices in whichdata is stored by the gateway for subsequent access; storing informationabout the identified data storage resources of the one or more accessdevices in a database accessible by the gateway, the stored informationincluding information about availability of any unused storage resourcesof the one or more access devices; at the gateway, collectinginformation over the respective networks about access devices which arewirelessly accessible over the respective networks and collectinginformation about multimedia information and media related servicesavailable on each access device; and at the gateway, using theinformation stored in the database, selecting a portion of theidentified data storage resources of the one or more access devices forstorage or retrieval of the multimedia information and media relatedservices, including: at the gateway, segmenting files defining themultimedia information or media related services; storing the filesegments on independent data storage resources of the one or more accessdevices which are respectively accessible over the respective networksof the plurality of networks; and in response to a request from a userfor the stored file segments, coordinating the retrieval, reassembly anddelivery to the user of the files defining the multimedia information ormedia related services.
 5. The method of claim 4 further comprising: atthe gateway, receiving from a user of an access device informationdefining specific storage resources to be used by the gateway to storespecified multimedia information.
 6. A method comprising: at a gatewayin data communication with a broadband network and a plurality ofnetworks, communicating with one or more access devices over respectivenetworks of the plurality of networks to identify data storage resourcesof the one or more access devices which are accessible over therespective networks of the plurality of networks, the data storageresources including storage devices in which data is stored by thegateway for subsequent access; storing information about the identifieddata storage resources of the one or more access devices in a databaseaccessible by the gateway, the stored information including informationabout availability of any unused storage resources of the one or moreaccess devices; at the gateway, collecting information over therespective networks about access devices which are wirelessly accessibleover the respective networks and collecting information about multimediainformation and media related services available on each access device;and at the gateway, using the information stored in the database,selecting a portion of the identified data storage resources of the oneor more access devices for storage or retrieval of the multimediainformation and media related services; at the gateway, providing userinterface data over a wireless link to an access device, the userinterface data defining a user interface for interaction by a user ofthe access device to control storage of specified multimediainformation; at the gateway, accessing a remote storage service over abroadband connection to the broadband network; storing at least somemultimedia information at the remote storage service; and providing userinterface data to the access device with information about the storageon the remote storage service.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein storinginformation about the identified data storage resources comprisesstoring location information for an identified data storage resourceincluding storing one or more of an electronic serial number, anInternet protocol (IP) address, a media access control (MAC) address, anInternational Mobile Station Identifier (IMSI) address, a MobileIdentification Number (MIN) address, a manufacturer identifier, a modelidentifier, or a type identifier.
 8. A system providing communicationservices among a broadband network and a local network, the systemcomprising: a modem to communicate data with a broadband network; awireless interface to communicate wireless data with one or more localwireless networks including access devices; and a gateway in datacommunication with the modem and the wireless interface, the gatewayoperative to communicate with the broadband network to collect aggregateinformation identifying storage resources available on the broadbandnetwork where multimedia data of interest is stored or may be stored forsubsequent access by the gateway and information identifying storageresources available on a plurality of access devices in datacommunication with the gateway over the one or more wireless networkswhere multimedia data of interest is stored or may be stored forsubsequent access by the gateway and which are available on a pluralityof access devices in data communication with the gateway over the one ormore local wireless networks, and the gateway further operative toaggregate the information about the identified storage resources wheremultimedia information is stored or is stored by the gateway among theaggregated storage resources, the gateway further operative to provideover the broadband network or one of the one or more local wirelessnetworks user interface data to form a user interface on a user accessdevice, the gateway further operative to access a remote storage serviceover a broadband connection to the broadband network, store at leastsome multimedia information at the remote storage service, and provideuser interface data to the access device with information about thestorage on the remote storage service, and the gateway further operativeto receive from an access device over the broadband network or one ofthe one or more local wireless networks a user request to store usermultimedia information and to use the collected aggregated informationto select a portion of the identified data storage resources availableon the broadband network and available on the plurality of accessdevices for storage or retrieval of the user multimedia informationamong the aggregated storage resources.
 9. The system of claim 8 whereinthe gateway is further operative to receive from the user access deviceuser data defining user multimedia information and candidate storagelocations available for storage of user multimedia information among theaggregated storage resources.
 10. The system of claim 9 wherein thegateway is further operative to provide user interface data defining astorage selection screen for user specification of the storagecharacteristics of candidate storage locations among the aggregatedstorage resources.
 11. The system of claim 9 wherein the gateway isfurther operative to provide user interface data defining a storageresource screen for identifying to the user characteristics of availablestorage resources among the aggregated storage resources.
 12. The systemof claim 8 wherein the gateway is further operative to classify storedmultimedia information for storage by a plurality of differentcategories.
 13. A method comprising: at a gateway in data communicationwith a broadband network and one or more wireless local networks,collecting information about storage resources available to the gatewayin the one or more wireless local networks, the storage resourcesincluding storage devices which communicate with the gateway over theone or more wireless networks and in which data is stored by the gatewayfor subsequent access; aggregating the collected information to defineaggregated data storage; at the gateway, receiving from an access deviceoperating on one of the one or more local networks a request to storeuser multimedia information; at the gateway, in response to the receivedrequest, accessing a memory to retrieve stored user storage selectioncriteria associated with the user; at the gateway, classifying the usermultimedia information into one of a plurality of storageclassifications, including classifying the user multimedia informationinto one or more of a statistical characteristic, predefined datasequence, file header information, first extension or filename, andclassifying the stored multimedia information based on a speed of astorage medium, a cost of storage of the storage medium, an expectedsecurity of the storage medium and available storage capacity of thestorage medium; at the gateway, selecting storage resources among theaggregated date storage for storage of the user multimedia informationbased on the user storage criteria and the user multimedia informationclassification; and storing the user multimedia among the selectedstorage resources.
 14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:classifying respective storage resources of the aggregated data storageby one or more characteristics selected from the group comprising aspeed of the respective storage resource, a cost of storage of therespective storage resource, an expected security or privacy of therespective storage resource, and available storage capacity of therespective storage resource; and wherein selecting storage resourcescomprises matching classification of the respective storage resourceswith classification of the user multimedia information.